DOLE urged to prioritize OFWs from Iraq in Guam deployment

A labor group has urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to prioritize overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) coming from Iraq when deploying laborers to Guam.

In a statement, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said DOLE should give preference to some 6,000 Filipino workers who will move out of Iraq, as it is set to enlist as many as 10,000 workers for deployment to Guam.

"On one hand, we have 6,000 workers out of Iraq. On the other hand, we have 7,000 to 10,000 initial job openings in Guam. The DOLE might as well give priority to our workers from Iraq in filling up the Guam vacancies," said TUCP secretary-general Senator Ernesto Herrera, a former senator.

He said doing so will minimize the potential economic impact on workers and their families of the continuing employment ban in the war-torn country.

The US government last July ordered all its military contractors to send home all foreign workers coming from countries that have imposed a deployment ban to Iraq.

Filipinos have been prohibited from working in Iraq since 2004 following a series of suicide bombing attacks and abduction of foreigners, including two Filipinos, as a result of the US-led war.

Late last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that while the total ban remains, OFWs already in Iraq and deployed in US military facilities may continue working there until they finish their contracts.

"The job openings in Guam are mostly construction-related activities and services anyway. And many of our workers out of Iraq were engaged to perform similar tasks," Herrera pointed out.

He said given the nature of work of laborers hired by American military contractors in Iraq, Filipino workers coming from the country will readily qualify for the job vacancies in Guam, a US territory.

The DOLE earlier announced that thousands of construction jobs in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) could be available to OFWs should the US$700-million-worth US military hospital project there push through.

Herrera meanwhile said Guam may need up to 30,000 foreign workers in the coming months, as the US military scrambles to build up t infrastructure and services in the US territory.

This is in preparation for the relocation of some 9,200 US troops and their 10,000 dependents from the Japanese island of Okinawa, according to Herrera.

He explained foreign workers needed in Guam include project managers, engineers, accountants, duty-front managers, plan makers, cost-control managers, nurses, doctors, electricians, construction laborers, plumbers, welders, carpenters and brick layers.

Also expected to be in demand are computer graphic artists, computer operators, audio-visual technicians, chefs, cooks, food and beverage managers, bar boys, drivers, receptionists and stewards. - Jerrie M. Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV

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